North China Marines - Prisoners of War

This page last updated 21 Nov 2007

Corporal Jerold Story and His Two Escapes

Click above to read the de-classified report submitted by Corporal Jerold B. Story about his escape from Woosung in 1942, recapture, being sent to Ward Road Jail, then the final and successful escape from there in 1944.

You can read the whole story about this escape in the book Officially Dead by Quentin Reynolds. Order a copy at www.bookfinder.com.

A mass escape?

In his oral history, held at the University of Illinois at Springfield, Vic Ciarrachi refers to a mass escape attempt planned but never carried out. Below is that information quoted directly from his oral history.

". . . going down to Shanghai there was rumor of a break, that we were supposed to have a break from the Japanese at the first stop there which was only about forty miles from the Chinese guerrillas. Dr. Foley had it all arranged where he was going to open the boxcars when we stopped there and we were supposed to get in touch with these guerrillas up in the hills which were about forty or fifty miles away. But when Major Brown and Colonel Ashurst heard of it they put the cabosh on it because they didn't think that the Colonel could make it. He was pretty sick at that time and Major Brown says, 'Oh what the hell do you want to try to escape now for, you are going to be repatriated in June? So you've only got four or five months to go so you are risking your life now trying to break away and free yourself, you're foolish you know.' So he never did open the cars for us."

If this is true the Boxer Protocol is what Major Brown refers to when he suggests they will be repatriated in June. Except there was no clause in the Boxer Protocol which allowed embassy guards to be considered diplomatic personnel and therefore to be repatriated as such. For some reason Colonel Ashurst and Major Brown believed there was. Colonel Ashurst had made a point of surrendering the North China Marines under that, as it turned out, non-existent clause. Herman Davis, a Navy corpsmen assigned to the North China Marines, worked with Dr. Foley, then a Navy Lieutenant. He continued to work with him after the war. Herman's brother, Martin Davis, told me this about the planned escape. "I spoke to Dr. William Foley a number of times about this very matter. He stated he had a specific plan to escape while en route to Shanghai. He believed that his chances were favorable in that he spoke Chinese and had friends in the region that the train was going through. He even described the method by which he would get off the train. A primary reason for not proceeding with his plan was due to a Japanese guard's threat that 10 POWs would be killed in the event of an escape." This threat of 10 to be killed in the event of an escape was common. There are documented cases where the threat was carried out.

Escapes

Two Marines from Peking, Donald Marshall and George Stone, escaped the original move to Woosung in January of 1942, but were recaptured. See Jerold Story Escapes above for more details.

Four North China Marines escaped from Woosung in March of 1942 and were recaptured in April. These men were Connie Battles, Charles Brimmer, Charles Stewart, and Jerold Story. Upon their recapture they were imprisoned in Ward Road Jail in Shanghai. In October of 1944 Jerold Story escaped from Ward Road Jail successfully. Brimmer and Stewart were part of this escape attempt as a second group going over the wall at the same time and were apparently re-captured within hours or the next day. In January of 1945 they were sent to Nanking, August of 1945 to Peking, 18 August of 1945 transferred to Fengtai civilian camp, and reached by US forces on 23 August 1945. Battles was too ill to participate in the Oct 1944 escape attempt. I am assuming the information on the recapture and Aug 23, 1945 rescue of Brimmer and Stewart based on information about Commander Cunningham from Wake, who was part of their escape attempt. It appears Battles was also at Nanking in August 1945. I have seen a letter written by Charles Brimmer to Francis Plog in which Brimmer states the details of his attempted escape from Ward Road in Oct 1944 were not as portrayed in the book Officially Dead as written about Commander C. D. Smith, Commander John Wooley, and Corporal Story. (This is undoubtedly because the book was written in 1945, before the war was over. Details were changed in the story in order not to put any one still under Japanese control at risk.) These 3 individuals successfully returned to US forces in Chungking. Brimmer, Stewart, Sgt Coleson, PhM1st Brewer, and Commander Cunningham were not successful in their escape attempt at the same time. Brimmer received a life sentence in prison from the Japanese authorities for this second attempt. Stewart, Brewer, and Coleson each got eight years. (See Corporal Story and his two escapes above)(Connie Battles suffered for years from epileptic seizures caused by a blood clot on his brain which was a result of the beatings he received.) NCM Richard Huizenga and James McBrayer escaped from the train while the prisoners were being moved from Kiangwan to Fengtai and then Japan in May of 1945. With them were Wake Island Marines John McAlister and John Kinney and Flying Tiger pilot Lewis Bishop. They successfully reached US forces together. Wake Island civilians Bill Taylor and Jack Hernandez escaped from the train on a separate night. Hernandez broke his leg and was recaptured. Taylor reached Communist forces, then US forces. Douglas A. Bunn may have escaped from Ward Road Jail in May or June 1945 during a bombing raid. Was immediately recaptured (he had a broken leg) and eventually sent to Fengtai. Finally rescued there by US forces. (See details at report on Ward Road Jail on the page POW Camps holding North China Marines.)

Deaths

see pictures below(next of kin info is at time of death)

The following North China Marines died while prisoners of the Japanese:

Carrol Wilson Bucher – died from electrocution from a perimeter fence in Woosung 28 Aug 1942 (photo below)(Mr. and Mrs. Floyd Bucher, 4375 So Delaware St., Englewood Colorado)

Holland Cash – died from complications following an appendix operation in Kiangwan 18 Nov 1944 (photo below)(Guardian: Mr. Robert B. McCord, Ormewood Court, Atlanta Georgia.)

Ralph Harris Goudy – died from food poisoning in Tokyo No. 5 Dispatched Camp-Kawasaki 12 Mar 1944.. The POWs were always hungry and he found an open can with food remains in it. Cause of death listed as heart failure. (Photo below) ( Mr. Willard Goudy, 367 South Ave A, Canton, Illinois)

William E. Killebrew – died from pneumonia at Fukuoka #3-B 10 Feb 1944. (Photo below) Killebrew was married to Nadia Petrov on 7 May 1941 in Peking. His mother tried to help Nadia get to the states but could not contact her after the war began. The family never heard from her or of her from that time.(Mr. William E. Killebrew Sr, Rt 4, Murrayville Illinois) Although pneumonia was listed by the Japanese as cause of death the combination of hard physical labor and malnutrition were the real causes. Any illness such as pneumonia, which would have been easily treatable under ordinary circumstances, were exacerbated by the extreme conditions under which the POWs lived and the lack of medical care provided.

Raymond Elmo Lease – died at Ofuna 31 Dec 1944 according to NARA records, but actually died at Tokyo No. 5 Dispatched Camp-Kawasaki. Enterostenosis is listed as the cause of death. (Mrs. Bertha Hawthorne, Cheyenne Wells, Colorado)

Max H. Nuese – died at Fukuoka #3 after a beating with tongs, possibly in the factory, apparently catches pneumonia after beating, 13 Dec 1944. Cause of death listed as croup pneumonia and beri-beri. Scroll down past photos for affidavit concerning the death of Max Nuese, and his photo.(Mrs. Rosa Nuese, 410 S Union St, Braunfels Texas)

Richard Rider – killed in an air raid at Osaka 13-B Tsumori on the night of 13 March of 1945. Cause of death listed as injury of the lung. He was hit in the chest by shrapnel. ( Mr. Henry Rider, 521 D St, Lincoln, Nebraska)

Clyde Edward Roark – died 29 Jan 1945 at Kiangwan according to NARA records. (Photo below)(Mr. and Mrs. Edward H. Roark, Paoli Oklahoma)

Fernando C. Rodriquez – died at Osaka 13-B Tsumori on 5 Nov 1944. Cause of death listed as pulmonary tuberculosis. (Photo below) (Mr. and Mrs. Agapito Rodriquez, 4316 Allen St, Houston Texas) He is buried at the Manila American Cemetery, Plot B, Row 12, Grave 166. We can assume it is his ashes that are buried there. The Japanese cremated most, if not all POWs that died in camps in Japan, and stored the ashes in marked containers.Photo and information on Fernando Rodriquez's grave came from retired USMC Sgt Maj Bert Caloud who works at the Manila American Cemetery.

Rodriquez

Most of the photos below were taken from pre-war issues of the Peking Marine and the Tientsin Marine.

Underlined in red in above photo at left is Carroll Bucher. Marked in red in photo at right is Holland Cash.

Ralph Goudy is above and to the right.

Above is Fernando C. Rodriquez.

William Killebrew is above. Photo and news clip sent to me by his niece Jo Waltrip.Further info on William Killebrew and his wife can be found on the page

POW Letters and Documents (part two) and on the page Diamonds on their Hats.

Clyde Roark arrived in Tientsin in Aug 1940.

The following affidavit was submitted by North China Marine Alvin Ernest Sawyer on 22 October 1945 in Oakland, California. Originally classified Confidential, the document was declassified on 28 February 1950.

Alvin Ernest Sawyer, being duly sworn, deposes and says: My permanent home address is 507 Bowman Avenue, East Alton, Illinois. I am a Corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps and my serial number is 272867. I am 29 years of age and have had two years of high school training. I was taken prisoner by the Japanese on 8 December 1941 at Tientsin, China. I was a prisoner of war of the Japanese at Camp Tobata #3, Japan from 5 November 1942 until 12 September 1945. At this camp prisoners were compelled to work in the factory of the Yawata Steel Company under the supervision of civilian foremen, whom we called "pushers". One of these civilian pushers was a Japanese named YAMASTA. He was a man about 43 years of age, 5'4" tall, 160 pounds, and has a large scar across his left cheek bone extending from under the left eye almost to the mouth. In October 1944 I saw this man severely beat Private First Class Max NEUSE, U.S.M.C. He used a steel bar about 1" in diameter and 5' long and struck NEUSE across the small of the back and the shoulders until NEUSE was rendered unconscious. After NEUSE became unconscious, YAMASTA would not permit other prisoners to go to his aid. NEUSE regained consciousness and was compelled to work for about 45 minutes when he fainted. At this time the Japanese interpreter, named NISHI, took NEUSE to the factory hospital where he was treated and then sent to the prison camp. NEUSE died about one month afterward. During part of this month he was treated by a Dr. MARKOWITZ, an American Naval Officer whose rank I cannot recall. Dr. MARKOWITZ later told me that he was of the opinion that NEUSE died from internal injuries received as a result of the beating which I have described. The above beating occurred in the Yawata Steel Company factory, when NEUSE failed to salute YAMASTA. YAMASTA had screamed the Japanese word for salute at NEUSE, and NEUSE replied in Japanese that he did not understand.22 October 1945 signed Alvin E. Sawyer Subscribed and sworn to before me this 22 day of October 1945 at Oakland, California, U.S.A. signed Jack P. Kaetzel LtCommander, USN

Max Nuese shown below.